


Edinburgh

by orphan_account



Series: A Tale of Seven Cities [6]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 11:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14378139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: There are few cities that can fill you both with pride and make you reflect on your life, but for Jughead Jones, Edinburgh was the place where he found himself feeling that this.





	Edinburgh

Edinburgh

 

Jughead and Betty had never thought that they’d see the day where Matthew would give an international lecture on palaeontology. They sat beside Eleanor, who had her daughter by Matthew, three-month-old Madelyn Jones on her knee, and they smiled at the young mother beside them. Behind the four of them, Juliet, Violent, Archie, Kevin and Fangs sat with eight-month-old Oliver Jones-Andrews with them.

All of a sudden, Matthew, who was now approaching twenty-six by now, stepped out onto the stage. He shook slightly as he walked forward to the lectern, but barely anyone, besides his family, noticed that. Jughead’s heart swelled at the sight with pride in his heart as Betty beamed down at her son, who offered her a small smile as the room turned to him.

“If I could have your attention, please?” Silence descended instantly over those still talking, and most people sat up slightly. “Thank you.” Matthew gulped, rung his hand and found his family in the audience. The sight of his parents, wife and sister, in particular, calmed him down, and he felt confident enough to speak on his subject of choice. “Well, erm, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Professor Matthew Jones of Harvard University, and I am here today to introduce the importance of palaeontology to all who may sneer at the subject.”

The audience exchanged several glances as Matthew carried on. “Firstly, the past often dictates the present. As many of you may be aware, we are currently in an interglacial period of geological time. This means that to estimate what could happen to us next, we must analyse the previous interglacials in prehistory to have any idea what may happen to us. It will also allow us to plan and prepare for the future.”

As Matthew carried on, his voice became stronger and stronger, his passion evident. With each word he spoke, Jughead’s pride in him increased tenfold. Beside Jughead, Betty felt her own joy and love for her son consume her as she watched him talk. Their joint love and adoration shone while Matthew glanced over at his parents. His eyes then shifted to his wife and young daughter, who had opened her jade eyes, and he saw the love there that he held in his heart.

By the time that the lecture was over, both the audience watching the live speech and those their rose with applause. Everyone before him was overwhelmed by the young man who had never expected such a display of passion for one subject. When the other spectators left slowly, the Jones-Keller-Andrews family remained. Only Henry wasn’t there, but that was because he had his final exams in medical school to complete. He’d apologised profusely to Matthew, but the older man had understood.

Matthew wasn’t allowed to linger on that as his young wife flew into his arms with his daughter cradled in their arms. Little Madelyn, or Maddie as everyone called her, grasped at her father’s suit while he pressed his lips to Eleanor’s. The young family stood in perfect bliss before they remembered about their family waiting for them.

“That was amazing, Matt. It was incredible, and I am so proud of you.” Eleanor mumbled against his chest as she held onto him. Matthew’s heart raced at that as he clung to Eleanor and Maddie, who had both become the centre of his world.

“That was wonderful, Matt.” Jughead congratulated his son while Betty embraced her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Upon seeing this sight, Jughead smiled fondly at his family while taking in the delight and relief on Matthew’s face.

“He’s not lying, Matt, and we’re all proud of you. In fact, I couldn’t be prouder than I am at this moment. You have proved that you can do this to me, your father, your family and to all those who watched that presentation. You’re going to be a spectacular lecturer in September when you start work at Harvard.” Betty gushed her jade eyes, which she shared with Matthew, brimming with light. Matthew beamed back at her as Juliet took over and addressed her brother.

“See, I told you that you could do it and yet again I was right.” She grinned at her little brother before becoming much more serious. “You are amazing, Matthew Forsythe Jones. You have overcome all of the odds and showed the world that you are neither constrained nor ruled by your Asperger’s.” Juliet's eyes softened as she spoke up to her twin, who towered over everyone, except for Jughead or Kevin. Matthew detached himself from his wife and daughter before engulfing Juliet in his arms.

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” Matthew pointed out to his sister, who merely rolled her eyes in response to him. Despite everything he’d achieved, mainly due to his own determination, Matthew always claimed that he couldn’t have done it without Juliet’s help or support for him. Yet, as he glanced at the others gathered there, he realised that it wasn’t just his sister standing there with him and helping him all along. “I couldn’t have done it without any of you, so thank you.”

Kevin stepped forward from where he’d been standing with the rest of the ‘Non-Jones’ as a three-year-old Juliet had once dubbed them. A wide smile graced his lips as he turned to look at the young man who was now his son-in-law. “Matthew, you are the very soul of us all. A beacon of hope for each and every one of us, and before you ask, no, El isn’t casting me to say that. You’ve helped us grow and learn and become better people. Yet, most importantly for yourself, you have outshone all expectations that anyone could have had in you and for me to be a mere footnote in that would have been a joy. But we are not, and you have no idea how grateful we are for that.”

Each showered praise after praise upon the young man until a somewhat impatient Maddie tugged at his shirt, indicating that she wanted to be held by him. “Come here then, little rascal.” Matthew murmured as he took his daughter in his arms and held her to him. The young baby was entranced by the sight of his jade eyes looking down at her and grasped at his raven curls.

Watching silently, the older generation couldn’t help but be reminded of a much younger Jughead with Juliet in his arms. They smiled at the reminiscent sight and stayed transfixed as the young father smiled down at his little girl. The love that shone in Matthew’s eyes was the type of love that only a parent could know and the other parents there could see the love and adoration that they showered upon the children being poured out towards the youngest member of the Jones family.

By the time they all left, it was beginning to rain quite heavily, and they could see the water droplets reflected off of the pavement. Huddled up against the cold, it became clear that out of all of them, only Eleanor was able to handle it. The rest shivered as they walked, but the young mother, who had been born here and who had spent several long summers here, was right at home.

Yet, instead of taking the left turn towards the hotel, Eleanor led her family right, towards what they assumed was an insignificant church. Before they walked inside, she murmured: “Wait here, I’ll be back in a few moments, and then we can all go in.” So, as she darted off, they stayed beside a statue of a dog, which seemed incredibly out of place to them all.

“I wonder what that’s meant to be.” Archie finally said, pointing up at the statue and causing his best friend to turn and see the small plaque beneath it. Skimming the text, Jughead quickly got the gist of the story and turned back to his waiting family.

“It’s Greyfriars Bobby. He was a dog who waited beside his owner’s grave for years while the people of Edinburgh fed and watered him until he died. Yet, because he was an animal, he couldn’t be buried on consecrated ground, so he was buried just outside.” As he spoke, Jughead couldn’t help but be reminded of Hotdog, who had been such an excellent companion to him before his death just before Jughead’s first book release. Yet, through his book, the Old English Sheepdog had been immortalised, which was, in Jughead’s opinion, the best thing that he could have done to honour the memory of his old friend.

“Oh.” Veronica murmured before her eyes shifted to Eleanor’s form. The young woman was clutching a small bouquet of flowers; white lilies and blood red poppies were clutched gently in her shaking hands.

“El?” Fangs asked, but she just shook her head and walked into the graveyard. Deciding it was best to be with her, the group trailed after her as the young woman weaved her way through the headstones. Her eyes darted around looking for a familiar inscription, which she found in no time and then she gently moved to rest on her knees.

Around her, her family watched as she ran her fingers over the names on the grave which were: James Daniels, Evelyn Daniels nee Smith. Yet, her eyes moved downwards, she noted two new names: Thomas Jeremy Daniels and Maria Eleanor Daniels. A single tear fell at the sight of her birth parents names and mixed with the rain as she gently arranged the flowers before standing up.

“What does the Latin mean at the bottom?” Matthew asked her quietly after his wife had fallen silent for a minute. The others watched as she kept her eyes on the grave before she chewed her lip and responded.

“Vincere Vel Mori means ‘To Conquer or Die.’ It’s our clan’s motto and the other one, Per Ardua Ad Astra means through adversity to the stars. My grandfather, James, was a member of the Royal Air Force, hence the reason that’s there.” Her voice was the mere shadow of a whisper as she moved to rest against her husband, who held onto her tightly. “I haven’t been here since I was ten when they were buried.” She gulped and looked up at Matthew before adding: “I didn’t even know that my parents had died.”

The statement hung with all of them so that even after they’d all left and separated at the hotel, it still echoed through their minds. Betty had managed to fight it off and had fallen into an uneasy sleep, but Jughead couldn’t sleep. He knew Eleanor’s plight in part. He’d learnt the hard way what it was like to be abandoned, but as he thought on it, he realised that he and his daughter-in-law had turned that around so that their children would never learn that sorrow.

With one last breath of the Edinburgh air, Jughead took a step back from the balcony and turned into the small room that he was staying in. Betty shivered as she rolled over in bed and Jughead made to quickly close the doors of the balcony before padding over silently to their shared bed. He clambered inside beside her and looped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him so that her head rested against his chest.

Yet, Jughead knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. There was too much on his mind. He’d been all over the world; seen so many cities; and yet, Edinburgh would still be one of the most important. It was a city that made him feel so much pride and at the same time had made him realise that he hadn’t had the most challenging childhood of everyone he knew.

Yes, Edinburgh was undoubtedly the city that made Jughead reflect on both the past and future.


End file.
